Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux

You wake to find yourself in a strange place. This bed is not your own; you've never even seen this house before. The small room is empty save for an old computer, desk and bookshelf. Warm light filters in through a foggy window, bathing everything in a pinkish hue. The clean hardwood floor is partly covered by a soft looking purple carpet. This place is beautiful, but unsettling. And this is the first view you'll have of the breathtaking world of Oneshot. Made for the 2014 Indie Game Maker contest and downloadable free for PC, Mac and Linux, Oneshot is a puzzle-basedadventure which plays only in windowed mode, and yes, there is a reason for that. No, it's not a room escape, though the game's first few minutes would certainly have you believe so. It's not a horror game, but it is certainly atmospheric and has a few untraditionally "creepy" moments. The game's co-developers, Mathew Velasquez and Casey Gu, describe the experience as a mission to "guide a lost child through a strange world, utilizing items, characters, and the environment to progress." That could describe most any adventure game. With such an intentionally vague description, it is difficult for any player to have any idea what this game is really about—and that's the point. This is a game about exploration and mystery, the kind of experience you're meant to have with as little prior knowledge as possible. Don't even read any comments before you start, or it will be spoiled for you. All the information you need is the controls: move your character with the [arrow] keys, perform actions and use items with [Z] or [spacebar], and use [X] to open the menu. Now go play it. Oh, one last thing: put some time aside, because once you begin, you can't stop playing it for at least a little while. Luckily, this reviewer's hardware is sturdy enough that I was able to see everything through to the end, but other players have told horror stories of computers shutting off mid-game and losing everything. There are three moments throughout the game where you can save and quit safely, and you'll know them when you find them, but that's it.

Still reading, eh? Alright, dear readers, but never let it be said that you were not warned. Oneshot follows the story of a little cutie named Niko, a small but brave boy with cat whiskers and glowing, bright yellow eyes. Niko's been transported to a strange world without a sun, one that is falling apart, and he is the one who is destined to save it. However, it's not just Niko's story, but yours too. You are the god of this world, and its inhabitants need your help. This revelation comes early on in the game, but it changes the entire dynamic of the experience. Suddenly, this is not simply a silly, fun game you are choosing to play, but a responsibility to help save this world and return Niko to his home. The gravity of the situation intensifies upon realizing what the title of the game means. You really do only get one shot. If you give up and quit the game early, or even if you accidentally close the window, Niko dies and you can't continue. Ever.

The notion of such permanence, the idea that the game can only be played once, has been done before, but not like this. Oneshot is as original and powerful as they come. The art is gorgeous, resplendent with vivid glowing hues. The puzzles are well thought out, tricky, but far from impossible. Above all, the dialogue is great and the characters are lovable. It is impressive how easy it is to fall in love with the characters and the world of Oneshot in so short a time. The game is not flawless—its first major section, the Barrens, are the longest and most frustrating part of the game to navigate. The later sections are somewhat easier, but feel rather shorter too. The item system is also rather unwieldy, with no way to cycle through your inventory besides opening and closing the menu half a dozen times. Still, despite the risks and surprises that Oneshot holds, it is a beautiful, polished experience that you should not miss. Be warned that once you reach the end, you will have to live with your choices afterwards, as I have. This is your journey, and there's no turning back.

Looks very cool, but is anyone else having trouble getting it to run under OS X? I've installed the rpgosx RTP as per the instructions (and it's allowing me to run other games on that site), but launching Oneshot just gives me a dialog box that reads "Could not start RPG_RT.exe."

I've also inquired with one of the developers, who also works on rpgosx, and will follow up here if I hear back.

????? Soooo, the point of the game is to try for 5 min, make many poor choices, and die forever, without a way to try again to follow a better path? To make a better life for your (admittedly Fake) worshipers? I prefer the games from that Lud dum dare challenge whose theme was "You only get one", or something similar.

Nathaniel: The game isn't quite like what you're thinking of; you may be a god, but this isn't a traditional "god game." And yes, there are save points so you don't have to finish the game all at once. I encourage you to give it a shot!

Welp. I don't think I have much of a choice. I examined a computery-looking item, a dire-sounding message popped up, and... the game froze. (Incidentally, if a game requires Wine, it shouldn't be advertised as being available for Linux.)

A ha! This has happened twice to me now. A confirmation dialog pops up ("do you understand?") and is immediately buried UNDER a bunch of windows, instead of displaying over the game window. So the game was frozen until I clicked "yes", but I had no idea that I was supposed to do so. Luckily I clicked the "wait" button on my system's "this program is not responding" dialog, rather than allowing it to force quit. *sigh* I'm rapidly losing patience between this and the super clunky interface.

I'm sorry you experienced so much frustration at the game. I'll take the blame for listing it as Linux-friendly; it was listed as such on the site, and I didn't look closely enough to realize the download required Wine. I'll be sure to pay closer attention in the future.

(I'm aware that as a Windows user, I'm spoiled when it comes to games working on my system...)

apparently there are 4 or more endings:
I got the ending where I didn't use the plant, nor the miracle grow, then I went to the spire and chose to help the world.

I suppose there is an ending where you plant and help the world, one where you plant and use miracle grow and help the world, one where you don't plant and help niko, one where you plant and help niko, and one where you plant use miracle grow and help niko.

In mine, there's a growing light, and then there are images of characters of the world looking at the light from the spire. Then there's the menu of the game with start and quit, but the image in the back of the menu is now just white, and when you start, you are in the room again where niko started, but there's no niko, and there's a lot of light in the window, and you can't do anything else, as there's no niko to control.

I don't know what using the plant means, but I planted the seed, as well as used the miracle water.

The game window shakes and leaves you in a black room with only Niko in it. They go to the side of the game window and just... walk right over the border and outside of the game window, right off your screen.

At the end of the credits, the game just gives an error about a missing world and shuts off.

Unfortunately since I was only able to play the game once, I don't remember all of the details... I'll do my best to help you though!

In the building at the bottom of the map, there are several notes on the floor--one of them tells you about a cleaning solution. To clean the rust, you'll need to make this yourself. That involves hunting around the map for a few special items, including a syringe and a sponge.

You'll need to put liquid in the syringe from a certain pool (it looks different from the others) in the lower-right corner of the map. Then I believe you need to mix it with some of the gaseous substance from the top-left corner of the map. Again, you can only get the gas from a certain geyser (so explore a bit), and you'll need to trap it in one of your items.

If you find all the items and combine them, you'll eventually get the cleaning solvent and can use the sponge to clean up the robot.

Select the coin so that you see it in the lower right of your screen. It will light up in the directions that you are supposed to travel. Follow it's N, S, E, or W directions three or four times and you will advance to the next scene.

When I say a place name in Bold, go there by fast travel, or follow the directions next to it.

Read the notes for info on how to play the game so I don't have to repeat it here.

If you quit before unlocking the computer, no harm done!

If you quit after unlocking the computer, Niko will die, but this place is strange enough that he comes back next time you start the game! You gotta learn not to trust that guy.

Other than that, the land is quite safe. I haven't found a place where Niko can die.

The Beginning

Bedroom
Examine the lump on the carpet.
Remote GET!

Use the remote with the window to get a code.
Use the computer, and enter that code!
Hey, that looks like a gamedev's computer...

Living Room (south)
Take Alcohol from the fridge, and examine the fireplace.

Bathroom (north, west)
Take a branch from the wilted plant.

Living Room
Use the alcohol with the stick, then use the stick with the TV, then the torch with the fireplace.

Get the Basement Key from the floor, and USE it to enter the

Basement (east, east)
You get an IDEA! (lol jk)

Living Room
Use your IDEA! with the west door to leave.

The Barrens

Roadways (north)
Get and equip the boots to make your life easier.

Outpost (east)
Talk to the robot priest guy, and ask about the computer.
Niko will ask you about your name. If you don't like it, or if it got truncated (ISHAN MURPH?), go ahead and change it.
You can exit the conversation with X.

In the warehouse he's standing near, go right and get the shiny thing on the shelf.

In the trailer, there's a Rod. Get that too.Shrimp swamp (east)
Get the Sponge.

Dormitories (north)
Get and equip the Gloves.
Use the right of the two machines near the gloves with the Rod, and get the Crowbar! A wonderful tool for any escape.

Cliffs (north)
Somewhere here there's a safe. Use it.
Now where's that code?

It's under My Documents, as INFORMATION.oneshot.txt. If it's not there then I dunno.

Equip the Gas Mask.

Mining Facility (west)
Take the Plastic Syringe from the upper-right of that big building.
Also get the Camera.

Gas Vents (west)
Yay gas masks!

One of the vents isn't on a cone thing, but on the ground where Niko can reach it! Use the Bottle on it.

Outpost
In that warehouse, there's a shiny box which you can open with your Crowbar, and get a Battery for your efforts! It's broken though. Aww.

Shrimp Swamp
One of the pools here is all weird. Use the Syringe on that one, and get Goo!

My antivirus did that too. It's not a virus, just a game, but it does do some weird things:

It changes your desktop background (and changes it back if you don't quit before it gets the chance to). It makes the game window shake. It talks to you with dialog boxes. It has the character walk off the game window. It won't let you start the game over even if you delete and redownload the game.

So those are probably some reasons it got flagged. If those things bother you, don't play it, but it's not malicious.

I finally got around to playing this game, but hit a snag. If you also get stuck at the pattern on the floor in the ruins, because the game doesn't actually change your desktop wallpaper to show the combination, it luckily seems not to change between games. I was able to find the pattern on another website.

I'm glad you loved the game as much as I did! Unfortunately I was never able to figure out how to replay the game either (other than playing it on a different computer), though I think I'd feel a little guilty if I had.

The TV Tropes page for the game says

"The game even modifies your computer so you can only finish the game once, and you either need a separate computer or account to replay it, or restore your computer to before you played the game." Perhaps creating a new user account and downloading it there may work for you, then?

It also mentions something about registry files, but it doesn't get specific... so I think you might be hard pressed to figure it out still. Good luck!

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